Decoder. plain-English AI glossary

Plan Execution

● Core

Actually carrying out the steps the agent laid out — turning the plan into real actions.

Think of it like

Following the recipe you wrote down: chop, sear, simmer, in the order the card says.

Example

With its five-step migration plan set, the agent runs step one, confirms it worked, then moves to step two, and so on.

How it actually works

Execution is where the plan meets reality. A step can fail, a result can surprise, an assumption can prove wrong — so execution isn’t blind step-following but a loop of act, check, and adjust. The classic “plan-and-execute” design separates the two so the agent doesn’t re-plan from scratch every turn, but it still needs to notice when the plan has stopped matching the world.

For product teams

A good plan still fails if execution can’t cope when a step goes sideways.

For engineers

Sequentially carrying out planned steps within the agent loop, checking each result before proceeding.

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